T'was the Night Before Christmas
by tried-to-write
Summary: A (reluctant) Nico is just staying up to catch Santa-san with Maki


Nico felt her eyelids drooping as she struggled to stay awake. She turned around and stared lazily at the younger girl beside her in amazement, wondering how she could still have so much energy after the kind of day they had had. She was practically bursting at the seams with excitement.

"Nico-chan, do you think Santa-san is going to come soon?"

"Relax, Maki, it's only 10. He's most likely only going to come at midnight."

Although Nico was usually fine with staying up this late, that day had been particularly hectic and she wanted nothing more than a good night's rest. Her red-haired underclassman did not seem to be deterred by the two hour wait at all, however, and instead seemed more determined than ever to stay awake so she could fulfil her childhood dream. She stared intently at the fireplace opposite her as if doing so would make Santa drop in earlier than he was supposed to. She was quivering with anticipation and Nico could feel the slight vibrations even through her thick, ugly sweater. It was a blue sweater with orange stripes on its sleeve and a big orange star at the front. It had been a gift from Maki earlier that day during the µ's Christmas party. Similarly, the sweater Maki was wearing had also been a gift from Nico during the party. It was a plain red sweater with a big purple heart at the front.

Nico smiled fondly at the sight of the usually calm and collected composer acting so uncharacteristically childish in front of her. She felt a bit of pride swell in her at the thought of being the only one among their friends to be able to see this side of Maki. She chuckled slightly as she imagined how their fans would react if they ever saw her acting like this. ' _Her fan base would probably double, seeing how incredibly adorable she is. Wait… Did I just… call her incredibly adorable?_ ' Nico blushed hotly after realising how she had subconsciously described her underclassman. She glanced at the girl beside her and her breath hitched.

The lights in the room had been turned off as Maki did not want Santa to know that they were awake lest he decides not to drop by. They had, however, lit a tiny little candlestick which they had found in one of the kitchen cupboards their group had raided earlier and placed it on the coffee table in front of them. Beside it sat a plate of cookies and a full glass of milk for Santa in case he got hungry and needed some snacks. The wavering flame from the candle cast a slight orange glow on Maki's face, doing a good job at accentuating her mature yet slightly childish features. Her bright purple eyes shone with excitement as the corners of her mouth curved upwards in a wide smile rarely seen on the pianist's face until recently. Nico felt awestruck at the breath-taking sight presented before her.

' _Yes._ ' Nico decided. ' _She is definitely more adorable than even the super idol Nico-nii._ '

Feeling the red-eyed girl's burning stare on her face, Maki turned her head towards Nico with a cocked eyebrow.

"What is it? Why are you staring at me?"

She was confused as to why Nico's eyes were slightly glazed over and why there was a slight pink tint on her cheeks which deepened into a furious red blush as soon as Maki turned around. She suddenly noticed their close proximity and felt her own face heat up drastically as she stared into her senior's ruby red eyes. 'They're so pretty…' Maki couldn't help but think as they continued their intense staring match. They were huddled together in an orange blanket for warmth and as so, had sat very close to each other. Nico finally remembered that Maki had asked her a question and stuttered out an answer as she reluctantly turned her eyes away from Maki's and looked everywhere in the room except for the said girl.

"N-no reason."

Nico wanted to slap herself. Was that all she could say? Her mind had blanked out at the moment and she could not think of her usual retort as a result. Maki became confused again at her unusual behaviour and the lack of her usual response. Thinking that maybe the girl was not feeling too well, she asked, her voice laced with concern,

"Are you feeling sick? Your face is really red."

Upon finishing her question, she put her forehead to Nico's to check her temperature, something her mom had often done with her whenever she fell sick. Nico immediately jumped away from Maki which in hindsight, may not have been such a great idea as she tumbled off the sofa and onto the cold hard marble floor.

"Nico-chan! Are you ok?"

Although hurt when Nico had jumped away from her, the girl's wellbeing was still more important to Maki. She held out her hand to help Nico up. Nico gladly accepted the hand and slowly got up.

"Ahaha… Yeah I'm fine, thanks."

She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head with her free hand as she sat back down on the sofa with the help of Maki. It was only when Maki had rewrapped her with the warm, cozy blanket had she realised how cold she had been even with the protection of her sweater.

Maki froze when she felt Nico snuggle into her. She felt blood rush to her cheeks as she pushed her smaller upperclassman away slightly.

"W-what do you think you're doing? Y-you idiot…"

She whispered the last part and had Nico not been as close as she was, she would not have heard it. Nico gave a confused look before realising what she had done. She blushed and stammered out a reply.

"A-ah! I was just uh… You were just really warm and I was feeling a bit cold…"

She mumbled a bit at the end and looked down in embarrassment. She looked back up in confusion and shock when Maki suddenly pulled her back closer.

"W-well if you're cold then there's no helping it, is there."

Maki said with a huff and looked away, trying to hide her reddening cheeks. When she managed to calm herself down, she turned back to the fireplace to continue waiting for Santa and to distract herself from the fact that she had just allowed Nico to snuggle into her.

Nico was about to say something in response but the concentrated look on Maki's face made her simply keep quiet instead. She leaned back onto the couch and they soon fell into a comfortable silence. After a while, Nico started to feel bored. She tried to start a conversation with Maki but all she got were one-word answers. She sighed and started to think back on the day's events.

* * *

 _Her day had started normally. She woke up, washed up and went to prepare breakfast for her family. Her mother had two days off for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and wanted to cook for them instead but Nico insisted that she rest as it was one of her rare days off and wanted her to be able to relax for once. Eventually, her mother reluctantly relented and allowed her to do the cooking for the family._

 _After they were done eating breakfast, Nico went to do her daily chores, again refusing any help from her mother. By the time she was done, it was already lunchtime and she went to the kitchen to prepare lunch. When she reached there, she was surprised to find her mother already done with cooking lunch while she had been busy doing her chores. She was about to reprimand her mother for doing housework when she was supposed to be resting but decided against it and thanked her for the help instead._

 _When they were finished with lunch, Nico decided to play with her siblings for a while before she had to prepare to go to the µ's Christmas party. Although she would have loved to spend the whole day with her family since her mother was home, µ's was just as important to her and she couldn't not attend the party. She was free the next day and would be able to spend the day with her family so it wasn't too bad anyway. After saying goodbye to her mother and siblings, she left the house to go to the party._

 _The party was held at the large Nishikino mansion and Nico couldn't help but be amazed at the sheer size of it no matter how many times she visited. When one of the family's butlers finally brought her to the living room, she found out that the rest of them had already arrived and were waiting for her. She placed the gift she had brought with the rest of the gifts on the table before going to join them._

 _After chatting for a bit, they decided to have an early dinner when Honoka's stomach growled loudly. The family's world-class chefs had prepared a huge feast for them which was served by the various butlers and maids the family also owned. Nico's mouth literally watered at the sight of all the delicious looking food and looking around the table, she could tell she wasn't the only one awed. The only one who appeared to be unfazed was Maki, as if it was a common thing for her._

 _'Well as far as I can tell, this is normal for her. Tsk, rich people.' Nico thought to herself with envy._

 _When the dishes were all given out, they eagerly dug in and were glad to find out that the food had tasted as good as it looked. They all made sure to thank the chefs when they were done eating, not forgetting the butlers and the maids too. Then, they finally started with the party activities._

 _They decided to start with the gift exchange. Everybody took a random gift from the pile and passed them around as they sang a random Christmas carol. When the song ended, they stopped passing the gifts around and checked that they hadn't gotten back their own gift. After confirming that they all had someone else's, Honoka immediately raised her hand and volunteered to be the first to open her present. She ripped apart the gift wrapper to find a bento box filled with rice balls._

 _"Ah, that one's mine…" Hanayo meekly raised her hand._

 _"Thanks, Hanayo-chan. They look delicious!" Honoka enthusiastically praised._

 _Umi opened her gift next. She was much more careful at taking off the wrapper than Honoka and slowly peeled off the tapes. She opened the box found inside and took out a teal scarf. This time, Kotori raised her hand._

 _"That one's mine, I knitted it myself hehe…"_

 _"Thank you, Kotori. I lost my scarf earlier today so this is quite fortunate for me." Umi gave her a grateful smile._

 _"Oh, that's great then." Kotori smiled back cutely._

 _The rest of the gift exchange went by uneventfully until they reached the last two people._

 _"Nico-chan and Maki-chan are the only ones left nya~ And none of us have gotten their presents so does that mean..?" Rin trailed off but it didn't take a genius to figure out what she was trying to say. Everybody turned to stare at Nico and Maki. The two said girls fidgeted under the intense scrutiny of their friends. Unable to stand it anymore, Maki spoke up,_

 _"Well let's just open our presents. Right, Nico-chan?"_

 _Nico nodded in agreement. The two of them opened their presents carefully. Everybody held their breath as they waited for the pair to show them what they had gotten._

 _"Ehhh?! You got me a sweater?"_

 _"Y-you too!"_

 _The rest of them had a field day teasing them about the sweaters for the rest of the party, especially Nozomi, much to the pair's chagrin._

 _After the gift exchange, they went on to Christmas caroling. Being a group of school idols, everyone could sing very well. They had a blast singing the traditional Christmas songs. Rin had even purposely sung out of tune a few times to make the rest of the group laugh. After they were done with this, they played some other games. Time passed quickly for them and soon it was time for the party to end._

 _The group said their goodbyes to Maki and thanked her for allowing them to hold the party at her house. However, just as Nico was about to leave, Maki stopped her. Nico turned to look at her, confused. Maki was twirling red strands of her hair as she looked at the ground, unsure of what to say. After waiting for some time, Nico got frustrated at the lack of response even though she was the one who was stopped._

 _"If you're not going to say anything then I'm leaving."_

 _"Wait!" Maki quickly grabbed Nico's wrist to stop her from taking another step. "U-uh uhm, do you want to stay up with me t-to wait for S-Santa-san?"_

 _Nico almost burst out laughing when she heard Maki's request and had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from doing so. She considered telling Maki the truth about Santa but remembered her friends' reactions when she had almost told her a few years back. 'They would_ kill _me if they ever find out that I took away her innocence.' Nico shuddered at the thought. She thought of rejecting the offer but one look at Maki's face had made it impossible to do so. She wasn't sure if the puppy dog look Maki was wearing was on purpose or not but it was working. 'Urgh, how can I say no to that face?' And so, Nico reluctantly agreed, to which Maki had replied with a huge grin on her face that washed away any of Nico's regrets._

* * *

Nico was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a weight on her shoulder. She turned around to find Maki with her head on her shoulder, eyes closed and a light snore coming from her. ' _She's finally asleep after all that excitement, huh._ ' Nico smiled warmly at the girl as she tucked away a strand of hair that had fallen onto Maki's face. She leaned up and gave her a quick peck on the forehead. "Merry Christmas…" She said as she finally allowed sleep to take over her.

 **Bonus:**

She suddenly noticed their close proximity and felt her own face heat up drastically as she stared into her senior's ruby red eyes. ' _They're so pretty…_ ' Maki couldn't help but think as they continued their intense staring match. She didn't notice as they started slowly leaning in closer to each other. Her eyes widened when their lips finally connected before she closed them and returned the kiss with as much passion as she could. It just felt so… right, that she couldn't stand to break the kiss. Their lips had fit together perfectly, as if they were meant to be together. She moved her hand to the back of Nico's head to push them closer, to deepen the kiss.

Plonk! They froze as they heard the sound of a head hitting metal. They quickly broke their kiss and turned to look at the source of the disturbance. Their eyes widened in surprise. Before them sat the famous Santa Claus covered in ash and sitting at the bottom of the chimney, rubbing his sore head after hitting it against the metal railing above the fireplace.

"Ouch, that really hurt a lot."

Noticing the attention his commotion had attracted, he continued, "Aww don't stop the make-out session, it was hot!"

Ignoring his highly disturbing comment, Maki squealed in delight and immediately ran over to Santa. "Santa-san! I'm so happy at finally being able to meet you!"

As Maki was fangirling over Santa, Nico remained seated on the couch, stunned into silence. Santa was… real? And more importantly, he had interrupted her first kiss with Maki?!

"WHAT THE F***?! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE REAL! GET OUT OF HERE!" Nico fumed, frustrated and freaked out.

Santa only let out a low chuckle as he replied, "Oh, but I am real." Without warning, he suddenly stuffed Maki into a sack that seemingly came from nowhere. Maki tried to struggle against him but he was much stronger than her and she was unable to do anything against him. After finally managing to push the girl deep enough into the sack, he quickly tied up its opening with a rope that apparently came from the same oblivion the sack had come from. Santa hefted the bag onto his shoulder, dragging it along with him as he ran to the chimney and somehow jumped out onto the roof. Maki's muffled cries for help could be heard in the distance but Nico couldn't move. She could only watch helplessly as Santa dragged her girlfriend further and further away from her.

Nico let out an ear-piercing scream as she jumped up from the sofa but fell off onto the floor instead, pulling the blankets and a non-kidnapped Maki along with her. Nico let out an "oof" as she felt Maki land on her. Maki groaned and used her arms to push herself up. "What the heck is wrong with you?" She grumbled, irritated that she had been woken up in such a horrible manner. She grew confused when Nico didn't reply. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked, now slightly concerned.

She jumped a bit in surprise when Nico suddenly grabbed her shoulders and shouted "Maki! You're okay!" Before Maki could reply, Nico kissed her deeply on the lips before pulling her into a hug. After she was satisfied with the hug and convinced that Maki wasn't leaving anywhere anytime soon, Nico stood up and left the room, leaving a confused and dazed Maki sitting on the floor, fingers touching her lips and a deep red blush on her cheeks.

"What just happened?"

* * *

 **A/N:** I have no idea what happened either Maki. It was meant to be a joke ending for my friend but i ended up loving it so much I put it back in as a bonus heh. Thank you to her for the cover art again!

Anyway, I wrote this fic on Christmas last year but I only created this account in January so I couldn't post it here until now. Sorry if it seems a bit weird but I kinda had to rush to finish the fic in 7 hours last year. Hope you enjoyed it~!

For people following my NozoEli fic, I'm so sorry for being so late but I am going to actually continue so just wait a bit longer!


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